Yet another season with a glass ceiling. There was no way this team, as it is constructed currently, was ever going to win a Title, no matter how many rounds it won in the Playoffs or games in the regular season. I say get rid of johnson for a C, get Horford to PF, get Smith to play PF/SF, and build around Horford/Smith/Teague. Get rid of r****ded scrubs like Willie Green and Vladimir Radmanovic, and actually build a solid bench. any other ideas?
They need a star/closer type of player. It's impossible to get one in this league without getting high draft picks or being in Florida or California. They are doomed.
Will never work. Smith is strictly a 4. He takes too many bad shots as it is. You put him at 3/4 and he will take even more junk 3s. Johnson needs to go. And realistically Smith needs to go. But their trade value is just not worth anything. If they could get cap space and 2nd rounders for Johnson, they would have to consder it a gift from heaven. They can get something for Smith. I'm just not sure what.
The truth is unless you are the heat, lakers, or thunder you have no chance at a ring. They have some good players.
We wouldn't have fix threads if they would've just drafted cp3 or d-will. What I would do is try to trade smith and williams for a sign and trade brook lopez
1. Build an actual offensive concept or system in the off season. 2. Draft Royce White or Fab Melo (both, if they can pick up another draft pick) 3. Teague is nice player and good guard, but the Hawks need a point guard who can really run an offense and get people in their right spots. 4. (Improbable) Trade Joe Johnson 5. If Josh Smith is traded or on the block, needs should be point guard, versatile wing, or a big man, nothing else, except draft picks.
They need a legit PG who will take control of that squad. Kyle Lowry should be on their radar. They also need to decide between Josh Smith and Al Horford at PF. They should have done so two years ago. Both guys can't stay. Nobody will take JJ from them because of his contract. Hawks are stuck with him.
I'll keep Al Horford over Josh Smith, even though I personally like Josh Smith. I know this sounds silly, but the Rockets should look at Zaza Pachulia.
Lol @ building around Jeff Teague. There is a reason why a lot of mocks have the Hawks taking Tony Wroten
The hawks need an overhaul bigtime. They might be able to package Joe Johnson with Al Horford and send them to the Cavs for their first round picks. While Johnson's contract is ridiculous Horford's is actually reasonable. And since Kyrie Irving is on a rookie deal the cavs can well afford these contracts. Kyrie, Horford and JJ would actually be better than the hawks and more balanced in my opinion.
Right, instead we'd have threads about how they should rebuild after those guys left in free agency... A Lopez/Horford combo is pretty interesting, as would be a Smoove/Crash combo in BKLN. I just don't trust Lopez' foot; he basically had Yao's injury, right? Their cap is already completely screwed, adding another $10M player who's going to be retired in 2 years won't help.
Do they still have their amnesty? Joe's value is pretty low these days and they need to get rid of him to rebuild. I don't see em becoming a contender via trades and late round picks. Get rid of Smith, it hurts your team when the bulked up PF with all physical tools settles for stupid jumpers because he feels he's the best shooter. Build around Horford and Teague, they should be the cornerstones of the future hawks. Marvin Williams is okay as 6th man, he's playin solid d and has good shooting numbers.
Here's a quick question; if Atlanta were to amnesty Joe Johnson, how much would you bid in the waiver auction to claim him? Keep in mind that you need salary cap room, and you bid a flat amount that is divvied up equally among the remaining years of the deal. There may never be a better market for Atlanta to dump Johnson cheaply; while I can't imagine he actually is traded anywhere at this point, there will be a bunch of teams with lots of room this summer, and very few 2-guards on the market. Before he goes into serious decline, Atlanta could reduce what they owe him by $20M or more. If they amnesty him in 2 years after he really starts falling off, they might not garner a single claim. His deal runs through 2016, 4 more years. Would you give him $5M/yr? $10M? He's still a very good player, just really overpaid.
Make a move for Nash this offseason. Move Horford or Smith for a SF and/or C that is D first, and move JJ to SG (JJ isn't going anywhere, and this is his natural position).
